Perception of enjoyment and masking smiles with self-report measures of rating on scales from happiness to negative emotions
Date
2016-04-08
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Abstract
Previous studies explored individual’s judgment of masking smiles using
dichotomous or categorical measures of rating which force individuals to categorize the
masking smile into one discrete category. The current study further examined
individuals’ ability to distinguish between enjoyment and masking smiles (smiles
containing trace of negative emotion) with positive-negative dimensional rating scales.
Thirty-two undergraduate students participated in the smile judgment study, which
consisted an Enjoyment smile and six masking smiles: a smile with a trace of fear, of
disgust, of anger in the brow, anger in the mouth, sadness in the brow and sadness in the
mouth. Participants had to evaluate each smile with four different scales, which contained
a positive and negative dimension (Happiness and either Fear, Sadness, Anger, and
Disgust).
Results indicated that participants could distinguish between the masking smiles
and enjoyment smiles as they rated the enjoyment smiles more positively than the
masking smiles. Participants were most sensitive to masking smiles containing traces of
fear as they rated this expression more negatively compared to the other masking smiles.
Other than the expression of anger (in the brow), masking smiles were rated more
negatively overall than the genuine enjoyment smiles. Finally, response rates were
quicker for enjoyment smiles than the masking smiles. Using dimensional measures of
rating in the smile judgment task did not change individuals’ judgment of the masking
smiles but may change the way the smiles are processed.
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Keywords
Masking smiles, Enjoyment smiles, dimensional ratings